The Soundtrack Of Life
by TheDeep
Summary: This is my second unofficial playing of the Shuffle Challenge. I decided the first try could use serious improvement, so I did it again. And I must say... I felt much more prepped this time. Enjoy! I'll add more chapters as I do more songs, since I do this in my spare time. ;)
1. Chapter 1: Part 1 of 2

**~ Author's Notes ~**

**Okay, so this is my second "go 'round" of the Shuffle Challenge, despite never signing up for it officially. I loved the idea, and I did this a while ago, but I decided to do it again when I got bored one day. I only did five songs here, so I might write more later to an actual playlist I made. For this round, I focused a lot more on Mac, and I'm thinking that, if I do write more, I want to do some more like my first snippet here with Mac &amp; Peyton. I watched "Silent Night" again last night... and ohhhhhh maaaaaaaaa Gooooooddddddd... That episode will never cease to make me cry and totally melt to an emotional blob. XD If I do write more, I'll just add it as another chapter. If you want, I included song title, song artist, and album, to make your search for these songs a little easier if you wanted to find them. (If you're anything like me, you'll make a playlist and listen to the songs named here as you read. XD I just did this tonight with the songs I included at the beginning of the chapters of my story, "Experience," and I put them in order of the chapters... I never cease to amuse myself... Hmm... I'll let you read now... Sorry. XD)**

**~ Song One: **_**Jesus, Take The Wheel**_** by Carrie Underwood from **_**Some Hearts**_

"Long day?"

The question made him look up and he flashed a tired smile when he saw her. Her brown hair was still pulled back in a ponytail, and she looked just about as tired as he felt. "When hasn't it been?" he asked.

Her soft chuckle was enough to make his smile come a little easier and she walked over to him, snaking a hand gently around his shoulders as he closed his locker before looking over at her to meet his blue-green eyes with her soft brown ones.

"I was thinking you, me, and a movie?" she asked, a hopeful look in her eyes as she raised a shoulder suggestively. "Dinner?"

He smiled some more. "Peyton," he breathed with a sigh, "You, my dear, have some wonderful convincing skills."

Peyton beamed and placed a quick kiss on his cheek, both hands on his shoulders now. "I know," she said, shooting a look at him before she turned on her heels and started to walk out, "Meet me in the garage. I'm driving. You look tired."

And with that, she left him standing there for a few moments longer, smiling in pure amusement at her brightness even after the trying day.

**~ Song Two: **_**Hope On The Rocks**_** by Toby Keith from **_**Hope On The Rocks (Deluxe Version)**_

He ignored his ringing cell phone again, distant and troubled eyes taking in the city outside of windows of his apartment. Life had finally hit him too hard, and he was waving a hand in flat-out surrender.

As quickly as the phone silenced, it was ringing again, and he sighed heavily as he looked over his shoulder with a glare at the device. _Right now is not the greatest time, Stell… Not now._

He let out something between a frustrated growl and another sigh before he walked over and slipped the phone from off of the table, turning it off before abandoning it on the kitchen counter next to a lone bottle of Scotch.

He shot a look at the bottle before he nearly rolled his eyes and retreated to the bedroom. He soon was settled down, his guitar rested across his lap as he leaned against the headboard, studying the gray clouds above the city for a few moments before he started playing. Nothing in particular, but… anything to express the loss besides words would work. And this seemed best.

**~ Song Three: **_**You**_** by Jeff Gutt from **_**Humanity**_

"Just stop, okay?" she finally snapped, shooting a glare at him over her shoulder and slapping his hand away from her shoulder harshly. "I'll be fine!"

He recoiled away from her, hurt layering in his eyes. It nearly covered his concern and he looked like he was frozen, unsure of how to react to her.

She took a few steps further away from him, gnawing on her lip.

"Stella… Please… Just talk to me." The near-pleading tone of his voice made her have to close her eyes as she felt tears threaten to override her.

She forced herself to look back at him to see he'd taken a seat on one of the benches in the locker room, looking at her with something different in his eyes now. Ages of experience and understanding were now conflicting with his current sea of emotions in those ever-clear blue-toned eyes of his.

She sighed finally in defeat, her shoulders sagging as she sank onto the bench closest to her. "How?" she asked, looking over at him again, pushing a few of her brown curls back behind her ear so she could see him clearly.

He shook his head a bit, even shrugging his shoulders. "I can't answer that, Stella," he murmured, looking away from her. His gaze was distant now. "That's something we all have to figure out for ourselves."

**~ Song Four: **_**Daylight**_** by Maroon 5 from **_**Overexposed (Deluxe Version)**_

He heard her let out a long sigh as they both heard the cursing whine of their phones. She rested her head on his shoulders, her face against his neck.

He sighed quietly himself, putting an arm around her shoulders for a few more precious moments.

"I really hate mornings," she muttered, an almost pouty frown on her face when she pushed back her hair from her face, her eyes narrowed as she shot a glare at the digital clock on his nightstand.

He smirked softly, placing a soft kiss on her forehead before he reluctantly pulled his hands away from her and reached over to retrieve his phone from the nightstand.

When he handed her her own phone she managed a small smile before she checked the message the phone had been trying to tell them about.

For a moment, they both looked at their phones, frowning, before they compared screens. And then they were smiling.

"I'll make the coffee," she said.

He smiled in response before kissing her. "Deal. I'll drive."

**~ Song Five: **_**Drive (Album Version)**_** by Incubus from **_**Make Yourself**_

"Please, just tell me he's okay?" Stella had practically run right out of her car almost before she had put the vehicle in park.

Don let out a heavy sigh. "No one's telling me anything, Stell, but he took a bullet to the shoulder." Seeing her worried and upset eyes, he added, "He's a fighter, Stella. I'm sure he'll be alright."

She shook her head. "That's not good enough."

Don quickly put a hand on her shoulder and guided her to a seat along the wall of the hallway, sitting her down before sitting beside her. "C'mon, Stell… This is Mac we're talking about. He'll be fine."

Stella sighed softly, racing a hand through her hair and looking over at him. "Where were you two when it happened?"

He sighed softly and shook his head a bit. "We were clearing the address," he said after a moment. "Danny and I covered the rest of the area and we thought we were all clear and that's when we heard the shot."

She bit at her lip and nodded her head a bit as she laced her fingers tightly together out in front of her. "He's gonna be fine… He'll be fine."


	2. Chapter 2: More Songs & Stories

**~ Author's Notes ~**

**So, since I got bored out of my mind today… I decided to write more little ficlets to songs. I'll also use this little section here to warn you I'm leaving Thursday morning and not coming back until Monday because I'm going back to Lexington, KY, this year for this year's Breyerfest! Looks like it's going to a blast since it's the 25****th**** Year they've had it! Can't wait, but of course, since I love you and your awesomeness (that's right, I totally just said that, and you better believe you're awesome, too, 'cause you are) I will make sure to have at least another chapter of a story, most likely "Connections," since it's been fictional decades since I touched that, to tide you over. ;) – Love, your weird, adoring author, TheDeep**

**~ Song One: My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark (Light 'Em Up), **_**Save Rock and Roll**_**, Fall Out Boy ~**

"Mac-"

"No!" He spun around to face him, his voice sharp. "I'm not putting up with this bullshit, Chief! If _anyone_ should know what my lines are, you sure as _shit_ should! I'm your damn lead investigator, for Christ's sake! So you can get the _hell_ out of my office before I do something I damn well shouldn't!"

Sinclair glared at Taylor. "Watch your damn tone, Taylor," he growled low in his throat, "I'll pull your badge for that yet!"

"Do it, goddamn it!" Mac shot back at him. "I know you've been dying to do it! And don't you damn well worry about me and this lab! Budget cuts are pressing my team's workload more than ever, and I know I manage to do it every year, as you've so plainly told me before, but you can tell them damned assholes doing the City's budgets that if they want a war and bloodshed on these streets that they should ask for it from me personally and I'll let the rapists and murderers from my cases out with a slap on the hand if that's what they bloody well want! Hell, maybe I won't even waste my time catching them!"

With that, Taylor snorted, anger flashing in his eyes like he was daring the Chief to hit him before he shoved forcefully past the bigger man back into the lab's hallways, "I've got better shit to do than listening to you telling me what to do with my position," he growled over his shoulder, "I've got families to get answers to, if you don't mind! Tell them about you pulling me and my team off the cases if you want!"

**~ Been There Done That, **_**Tailgates &amp; Tanlines**_**, Luke Bryan ~**

"_I think enough is enough."_

That's all she wrote for me on the paper laid on my desk, and I sighed softly, picking up her badge from beside the paper. For a moment, I closed my eyes before I sank into my chair.

When I opened my eyes again, I gently ran my thumb over her badge numbers. "What the hell have I done, Stell?" I murmured softly with another quiet sigh.

I could hear her yelling at me like she was really doing it. _"What don't you get, Mac Taylor?! I can't help you if you shut me out all the time!"_

_What do you expect me to do, Stella? Would you expect anything less from me?_ In the heat of the moment, I would've bet that those words would've slipped from my mouth. And they wouldn't have helped the situation.

I bit hard at my lower lip. If I hadn't wanted to avoid drawing attention to myself, I would've probably punched a hole in the wall or the glass somewhere. Instead, I kept myself to slamming her badge down on my desk and then tossing my own down beside it before I slipped to the back hall and leaned on the glass, staring at the buildings in the range of view for a moment before I rested my forehead on the glass.

_Damn it… Why didn't I listen to her?_

**~ Everbody Out Of The Water, **_**Red Letter Days**_**, The Wallflowers ~**

We stepped in shoulder to shoulder and started straight down the hall at a run when we heard the screaming.

"Alexa! Alexa, NYPD!" Stella yelled from beside me as we skidded to a halt when we saw the doors.

Our guns came up again as she checked the door on the right and I checked left. When I looked over my shoulder, she shook her head and I nodded in confirmation before we proceeded down the hall.

We repeated this process as we listened to the pressing silence. The screams had been cut off after she yelled, and that made me uneasy.

Finally, we came to the last door and we took a deep breath together before stepping in.

Trevor Dixon had a knife held to Alexa's throat and I noticed Stella tense beside me when two more men stepped from the shadows, aiming guns at us.

I felt a spike in my own anxiety, but kept my voice calm, "Trevor… Let her go… It's over."

"It's not over until I say so, Detectives," he said, and Stella and I didn't need any more warning than that of what was going to happen as we fired, taking out the three kidnappers with a precision that had become instinct through practice.

Alexa then looked at us as we stood tensed for a minute. Thankfully, she wasn't hurt except for a cut along her neck now, and it wasn't deep. "You found me… You found me…"

**~ How We Roll (Fast Five Remix), **_**Fast Five (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)**_**, Don Omar ~**

Sirens blared around the street as Don Flack stepped out of his car, Taylor and Danny flanking him as they moved quickly to the door.

Footsteps clattered on the fire escape and Danny and Flack turned as Mac ran back to get his truck to cut him off on the streets.

"NYPD!" Don yelled, racing into the alley with Danny to see the suspect sprint away from them towards a fence in a black hoody.

Both detectives took off, following the suspect over the fence before following him to the street side.

Sirens wailed again as Mac wheeled the Avalanche around the street corner, the black police vehicle diving between taxis that blared their horns at the truck's sudden appearance.

"Patterson, don't do it!" Danny yelled as he ran after the hoody-wearing suspect with Don, pushing through the crowd as the man tried to lose both of them.

Breaks screeched at the next corner as Mac pulled the Avalanche up and Patterson skidded to a halt as Mac aimed his gun at him through the open passenger side window and Don and Danny caught up behind him. "End of the line, Patterson. Game over."

**~ Paralyzer, **_**Them vs. You vs. Me**_**, Finger Eleven ~**

"Mac… What the hell happened to you?" Stella's concerned emerald green eyes landed on him, demanding an explanation for the cut just under his left eye.

With a soft sigh, he shook his head slightly. "It's nothing," he said, frowning slightly, "Just had some catching up with an old flame last night and…" He shrugged a little, "Well… it wasn't smooth as butter. I'll put it that way to be nice."

Stella grabbed his arm and used her free hand to examine the minor injury, Mac's only protest being a more audible sigh than his first one. "What happened?"

Mac gently pushed Stella's hand away from him. "Just a misinterpretation of my agreeing to meet with her, apparently," he said, another frown slipping across his face. "We met at the bar and when she made a move on me, I told her I wasn't looking and she caught me with her ring."

Stella raised an eyebrow at him. "What is she? Married?"

Mac laughed slightly, "For all I know? Maybe so at this point, but I feel sorry as hell for the soul that has to deal with her now if that's the case," he said with a smile.

Stella laughed a little and shoved him in the arm a bit. "Oh?" she asked, "One of _those_?"

Mac laughed and grinned, amusement glinting in his eyes this time, "Yeah! Like you wouldn't _believe_!"

**~ Remind Me, **_**This is Country Music [+Digital Booklet]**_**, Brad Paisley (Duet with Carrie Underwood) ~**

Peyton leaned into him as they both watched out the window, smiling a little in their amusement.

"So… You seriously have nothing better to do?" she asked, looking back up at him.

Mac shot a mildly fed-up and amused glare at her before slipping back to his chair, settling down with a slightly visible wince. "What do you expect?" he asked, smiling as he looked back over at her, "I'm a cop."

Peyton shook her head. "Mac Taylor…" she muttered, "You are doing _so_ much more than being a cop right now."

Mac smiled a little. "True, but… Would you expect anything less?" he asked, looking back out the window again as he rested his casted arm on the armrest of the chair.

Peyton looked at him with a small smile. "No," she said, her gaze turning a tad shy when he looked back at her. For a moment, his gaze clouded in a way that she couldn't tell what he was thinking.

"I missed you, Peyton," he said finally, his gaze serious.

Peyton sighed softly and sat down in front of him, gently taking his hand in hers and smiling a little as she looked back up at him to see a soft smile on his face. "I missed you too, Mac," she said.

Now Mac was the one looking away shyly. "How about a… fresh slate… for this troubled old man?" he asked, smiling slightly.

Peyton chuckled softly, shaking her head a little. "I'm up for that," she said finally, leaning forward and kissing him softly, Mac kissing her back as he slipped his hand gently into her hair.

When they pulled back after a few moments, he was smiling quite shyly, actually. "Damn, I've missed that…"


End file.
